Parents of one of the victims of Thursday’s shooting spoke to the press Saturday afternoon at Kishwaukee Community Hospital.

Robert and Vickie Dehner’s daughter Samantha was one of the students in the Introduction to Ocean Sciences classroom when the violence erupted. She was struck twice by handgun bullets, once in her right arm and in her right thigh.

The thigh wound was the less serious of the two, missing bone and causing no major damage.

“It went through clean. It’s going to heal like a cut, doctors say,” Robert said.

The bullet which struck Samantha’s arm shattered the bone and caused nerve damage, requiring orthopedic surgery.

“She’s having problems with her arm; a lotta rehab it’s gonna take to get that goin’ again,” Robert said of the recovery process. “The doctors said the surgery couldn’t have gone any better,” he added.

Samantha has a “steady stream” of friends to support her as she recovers, some even sleeping overnight in the hospital room. At the time of the interview, a group of well-wishers played cards there, providing a comforting presence.

“Put the two words together? “Daughter,” “shot?” It just doesn’t…” Vickie trailed off, still confounded by the events.

“You can’t comprehend it,” Robert said.

But beyond the difficulty accepting the circumstances, Robert expressed sympathy for the shooter’s family in Florida.

“I do feel sorry for his father, down there, a thousand miles away,” he said. “I know what we’re going through; they’re going through a whole lot worse.”

Vickie and Robert are confident in their daughter’s ability to recover, both physically and mentally. Whether or not Samantha will return to classes at NIU is still uncertain. Though her parents want her to have her education, they understand her reluctance to return to the location of the trauma.

Samantha Dehner is a 20-year-old undecided major and a member of the Sigma Kappa sorority. She will be discharged Monday.